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We're currently watching a Humax Digi box on Freesat connected to an early flat screen Panasonic dumb TV. They cost £150 on Gumtree nearly a decade ago. 😎
The TV is now occasionally being recalcitrant and the dish and LNB in bad weather struggle - we've big trees in line of sight to the satellite. I also understand Freesat is going in a couple of years. We have a Chromecast - but it won't let us watch live TV. This is an issue as Mrs_oab wants to watch Bake Off.
What's the thing I'm going to have to buy so that mrs_oab can admire soggy bottoms and crisp tops?
(And there is no way I'm spending silly money on this. If I could buy a bike for that amount, it's too much.)
Which channel is bake off on? You can stream all bbc, itv, ch4 and ch5 channels from phone to chromecast.
Chromecast should work with the BBC iplayer (phone) app for live TV (ours does).
H says: Firestick (which works with the remote).
We also have FreeSat box but only use it now for radio via the amp.
TV is all done via the Chromecast or FireStick,
£400 to £500 will buy you a decent Samsung with all the apps, might still need a sound bar though for decent sound. Can you get a (decent) bike for £500? Need a reasonable broadband conection and its not as easy as flicking through a program guide but it works well enough. We still have free Sky but rarely watch more likely to watch something through a streaming service.
Oh, actually, you don't appear to be able to cast CH4 live any more.
FWIW
There is a small lag (a few seconds) when watching live TV over the internet.
This probably doesn't matter for Bake Off but is seriously annoying for football when your son shouts the goals downstairs.
Oh, actually, you don’t appear to be able to cast CH4 live any more.
This is the crux of things.
I'm happy with old technology + ChromeCast, but it seems live is needed.
No wendyball matches or supporters will be in the oab_household, or indeed our attached neighbours, so that's not an issue.
Do you have a tv aerial? If so any TV will do the trick.
Another vote for Samsung here. Loads of apps, freeview through the aerial. We subscribe to Netflix/Disney+/The other good one?? Chrome cast through your mobile if needed. Also have an ex pub 70" Panasonic with an interior aerial in the garage and gets all freeview no bother. Broadband speed is utterly shite here but never have much bother.
Freeview on a Samsung via a decent aerial. The limit for this smart TV is the operating system is slow with apps. Takes an age to start spoiling the tour highlights. But when running it’s great hard wired to the Wi-Fi router.
The projector room is solely Apple TV and occasional iPad screen mirroring for Eurosport.
Freeview on a Samsung via a decent aerial. The limit for this smart TV is the operating system is slow with apps. Takes an age to start spoiling the tour highlights. But when running it’s great hard wired to the Wi-Fi router.
My 3 year old Samsung is fine with apps running over wi-fi. It's a Q70 though, so it's probably disqualified because you could get a cheapish entry level bike for the same kind of money.
I don't currently have an aerial.
Like Freesat, I thought that terrestrial broadcasting is in the twilight. I wondered if going straight to streaming is a longer term solution and cheaper than me forking out for an aerial?
[s]I am[/s] Mrs_oab is happy that we live stream onto a big screen. Less happy about waiting an hour or on phone screen.
Just bought my dad a 50” Samsung fort £399 from Argos, then bundled the Samsung soundbar offer in for another £149. It looks and sounds great. All the apps you want and works great on Wi-Fi.
LG OLED...
go proper or get in the sea.
Bought this a couple of weeks ago, apps are fast, picture is great. I'm sure it would show me bake off if I wanted it to.
Any old TV and a Roku.
For live 4 hdmi input might be your friend.
Go market place / gumtree etc and pick something up for a couple of hundred. Mine is a smart Samsung TV 42" £200 off marketplace.
Thanks all - will look up a 'smart' TV to stream via. I may go new as a quick read up says that some manufacturers are poor at keeping OS/apps running, and I don't change these things unless I Have To. Seems an Android TV system may be best for ongoing updates.
They're all bad, I'd definitely go with Josh's suggestion of a Roku and the best screen you can find either new or second hand. OLED/QLED are the gold/silver standard.
Apparently if you give £60 to some [dodgy] guy you can put an app on your Chromecast with Google TV or Firestick* and stream almost anything - including all live channels.
I have no idea about these things but a mate told me it's really very good indeed.
Like Freesat, I thought that terrestrial broadcasting is in the twilight.
Dunno, but Sky are moving away from satellite it seems.
* I have both and I prefer the Chromecast with GoogleTV
I've got a dumb tv with the Sky Stream box and a google chromecast/stick thingy to capture the sports apps sky doesn't have.
The Sky box is great, does exactly what i want it to do. £30 per month including Netflix, Discovery+, and paramount+ so is actually pretty good value if you use them all when you factor in the cost of a nowtv subsciption